Several studies have reported association between dietary lipids and the risk of coronary heart disease. Apart from genetic factors, high fat and cholesterol content of the American diet has been considered a leading cause of coronary heart disease. Controlling the amount of cholesterol and fat in the diet is important in preventing coronary heart disease.
Conventional methods of cooking meat do not decrease the amount of fat in the cooked meat dishes to a desirable low level of fat as shown in table 1, arranged on the basis of information published in the USDA Handbook Number May 8-13, 1990.
The data in table 1 illustrate that when three grades of raw ground beef are cooked, by several methods, a substantial amount of fat is left behind in the cooked meat.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ Fat content of raw ground beef and cooked beef products. See table 2, for comparison of results. Retention of the or- Fat in grams iginal fat in product. ______________________________________ Beef, ground, regular Raw, 100 g 26.55* Product from 100 g raw Broiled, medium, 20.69 77.9% Broiled, well done 19.46 73.3% Baked, medium, 20.93 78.8% Baked, well done 21.47 80.8% Pan-fried, medium 22.56 85.0% Pan-fried, well done 18.92* *71.26% Beef, ground, patties, frozen Raw, 100 g 23.19** Broiled, medium 19.65** **74.01% Beef, ground, extra lean, Raw, 100 g 17.06*** Baked, medium 16.14 94.6% Baked, well done 15.98 93.7% Broiled, medium 16.33 95.7% Broiled, well done 15.80** ***92.61% Pan-fried, medium 16.42 96.2% Pan-fried, well done 15.95 93.5% ______________________________________